2010 Scripps Interactive Ad Ops :: Creative Guidelines

General Creative Information

Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group uses Yahoo! APT for traditional banner ad serving and Adinterax for in-house rich media ad creation.
All sites use javascript ad tagging.
Third party creative tags must be javascript or iframe tags.
Mailto links used as urls will not be accepted.
Ads may not prompt the download of a plug-in, and must be coded to search for any required plug-ins or display an alternate ad to those who don't have it.
All political ads must include how they were provided or paid for
Scripps Newspaper Interactive has a 24 hour or 1 business day turn around time for getting ads live. Creatives not meeting the below specs or not sent in with enough lead time for QA may delay the campaign or ad in getting live.
Lead time for testing creatives are as follows:

jpg / gif / html: 1 day
standard flash: 3 days
rich media: 3 days
preroll / overlay: 3 days

Standard Creative Specs

HTML code should not exceed 10k.
2 images max. Total file size of each image can't exceed 20k.
Client-side image maps must be provided by the client.
Form tags in HTML code must use "get" in the method.
CGI scripts used in the HTML must be active at time of ad submission for testing.
All click through urls must be active at the time of ad submission.

Ad Size	Ad Type	gif / jpeg	swf	Animation Loops / Length	Border
120x30	SPONSOR	30k	40k	1/15 seconds	1px
289x504	FEATURED	20k	html	n/a	1px
180x150	SMALL BOX	30k	40k	1/15 seconds	1px
160x600	TOWER	30k	40k	1/15 seconds	1px
300x250	BIG BOX	30k	40k	1/15 seconds	1px
950x30	PENCIL	30k	40k	1/15 seconds	1px
728x90	LEADERBOARD	30k	40k	1/15 seconds	1px

Rich Media Specs

Any vendor not on the above list will need to be tested thoroughly for problems and tracking issue prior to implementation.
Scripps Newspapers Interactive will not track clicks on 3rd party creatives.
Rich media ad specs quick reference table.

Ad Size	Ad Type	Max Exp Size	Initial / Secondary Loads	User Initiated	Close Button
180x150	SMALL_BOX	300x250	30k / 60k(up to 4)	yes (on click)	required
160x600	TOWER	460x600	30k / 60k(up to 4)	yes (on click)	required
300x250	BIGBOX	560x300	30k / 60k(up to 4)	yes (on click)	required
728x90	LEADERBOARD	728x315	30k / 60k(up to 4)	yes (on click)	required
950x30	SLIDING PENCIL	950x300	30k / 60k	yes (on click)	required
130x130	PAGE_PEEL	500x500	30k / 60k	yes (on click)	required
n/a	POST_IT	400x400 max	40k	no	required
900x500	INTERSTITIAL	full screen bkgd	90k	no	required

All rich media ads must contain a visible close button.
Expansion must be user initiated on click. The ad must close either on clicking the close button or when moused off the ad.
Ads that contain embedded video can auto start, however audio must be user initiated.
Sliding Banners must be able to push all content below it down. B/c some pages/sections maybe set up differently these must be tested before going live in the appropriate pages/sections to insure the page will properly push down.
Floating ads such as Post It Notes should timeout and disappear after :15 max.
Floating ads are recommended to be linked to a standard in-page banner and fly in and out of it and not be a stand alone floating ad.
Floating ads must have a frequency cap of 1/user/day set by the Ad Operations team.
Floating ads shouldn't stay static over other banner spots on a page.
Floating ads can originate anywhere on the page other than on top of other banners.
Auto expanding ads are allowed. The auto expanding feature must be frequency capped at 1/user/day in the creative code. After that the ad must be user initiated on click to expand.
Interstitial ads must have a visible close button in the top right corner and take up the full page with either a solid or semi-transparent background.
Interstitial ads must timeout and close after :15 max if the close button isn't clicked.

Video Player Ad Specs

Any creatives not meeting the above requirements will be rejected and could cause a delay in the campaign going live.